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try to beat the wall... hit the birdie against the wall as many times as you can, don't let the bird get above shoulder level. Well.. start with not letting the bird get twice as high as you, this will greatly enhance your hand eye coordination as well as ur speed and consistency and will work out ur arm, shoulder and maybe even chest if you get good enough at it.
Most importnant aspects (imo) for begginer

Fitness shouldn't really be an issue until you get a bit better. I will outline the techniques for each of the 5 aspects. Also ibbs.tv is great http://www.ibbs.tv/IBBS/home/home.aspx, one of the best coaches in the world.

1. Hand-eye: comes from practice, talent (natural ability). How can you play badminton if you can't hit the bird. Grip: pretend your shaking someones hand with the grip base of racket.
2. Stand shoulder facing the net sideways, legs shoulder width apart, get under the birdie, swing forward trying to hit the sweet spot (middle) of racket (raquet?! omg..can't spell). Try to contact the birdie as high as you can without sacraficing strength and control.
3. Serve. Begginners should almost all use long, high serve. Lee Jae Bok reccommends practicing serve 300 times 5 days a week for 3 weeks... thats if you want to get good in a hurry. Just practice a few times until you get the hang of it.
4. Footwork. As a begginer just try to efficiently move around the court. Don't worry too much as to scissor kicking and giant lunges... just remeber to try to take a few steps as possible to reach the bird. Lunges come naturally once you try to minimize the amount of steps you take.
5. Underhand shots: Just hit the shot and keep it in.. bottom line.

Keep in mind that consistency is the biggest difference between begginners and intermediate players. I've been lucky in that I've been coached by Canadian champions, one world champion and one who was second in the world. My grandpa is from near Olso so thats why i'm trying to help you out so much !!

Also last point search for emule on the internet, download it, and download badminton movies / games. Emule is the best p2p client i have found for real badminton games, the players are international quality so regardless of what the players at your work tell you... this is the way 2 do it.

Thanks for the advice. just started few weeks ago and when I thought i was getting better, i played with really good players and got so frustrated when i realized i suck! i almost gave up the sport til i read your advice. I think i should be more patient and re-focus myself. thanks again. any specific tips for beginners? dont have a coach, i just learn from a video i bought.

Originally Posted by kwun

i think this has been echoed many times before, but i think it deserve another mention.

for those who are starting badminton, i suggest a few things you should focus on and a few things that you should not focus on at this stage.

FOCUS ON:

- focus on the correct grip - read the grip guide in BC
- focus on the correct stroke - ask a coach to show you.
- focus on footwork
- focus on fitness - jog/swim/bike - or do footwork drills

DO NOT FOCUS ON:

- trick shots - stop learning those strange shots.
- fancy style - i have so many times seen beginners with really fancy looking hitting style but then they miss the shuttle. keep it simple.
- strength training - leave this after you have learned your basic strokes
- expensive racket - you will most likely be wasting money

i'm a beginner who almost quit because i got so frustrated. i love the sport but i can get to be so impatient so i'm refocusing myself. can you add more on that "etc." to help me focus? thanks.

Originally Posted by Jinryu

I second that!

To add, focus on what you're training on. Especially when you're a beginner... for example, when I was starting off playing doubles, I was barely able to do a short serve... and had the most pathetic long serve ever (which were almost always met with smashes) And thus, whenever i was at service, the opponent would rush my serve and gain the advantage. But the imoprtant thing, as someone pointed out, is that especially when you're a beginner, you must remember that at most, you can train to make less mistakes. And you should credit yourself enough for those imporoovements. That means, even if i've only got a short serve, then just work on that till it's a good one. If you did a good short serve and the opponent returned it easily, well, this is just the begining right? Don't lose hope-- you learned that well, the next weapons in your arsenal will come next.

While it's true that no one liikes to lose as a beginner, well, you can still be a winner-- 'beating the opponent' is not the only possible goal you can set for yourself. As beginners, we must be realistic about our experience vs our opponents, and thus, set realistic 'stepping stone' goals, so that we can keep up our morale even in face of defeat. "I want a good short serve", "I want to be able to do a base to base clear", "I want to be able to position myself properly", etc.

It's 11.50pm... less than 9 hours from my accounting exam but heck. I'm sure I can squeeze in a post

ALRIGHT!!

For most of you beginners and intermediate players you may not realise it but have you ever tried drills for small kids? I was watching my sister who's 9 years old get coaching from Paul Kong, and it was inspiring!! The techniques though a bit childish actually build up the basics real good.

Two exercises which I can still remember from last week's training session with my sis and her training partner involved catching a lobbed shuttle with another shuttle in one's hand. One would hold the shuttle in the hand just like an ice cream cone and would try to catch the falling shuttle. This really helps you practice your hand eye coordination. My training partner and I who stayed back for a bit of a chit chat thought it was fun and tried it also! And I can tell you, it's not as easy as it seems. Sure you can easily catch one or 2 but can you do it consistently?

Another one which they did which I thought was quite good was something like a firing line. Each person would stand on the other side of the court with 6 shuttles lined up equally spaced on the service line. The aim of this was to grab the shuttle with one hand one by one and throw it in the opponent's court. This I thought builds up your recovery speed and tactics. Why tactics? Cause one can throw it anywhere on the opposite court!! So if you can make the other person run to retrieve the shuttles you practice some form of strategising . Oh yea not forgetting if you can catch a shuttle in mid air you are allowed to do so and throw it back even before it lands in your area .

Try those 2 exercises. Childish as they may seem, they are quite fun and I highly reccomend them .

i need some help.

hi, i am still a beginner to badminton. i know i still have many things i need to improve, but like you guys said, i should take one thing at a time. it took me about a year to have "okay" clears. but when it comes to playing singles, i serve, my opponent clears, then no matter what i do next, he/she will end the rally at the next shot. our exchanges do not last long.

i try to always come back to the middle and be ready to receive the shuttle but i just don't seem to ever be fast enough. so i was wondering if it is my techniques and strenght problem (like if i had better clears, my opponent wouldn't be able to kill mee that fast) or is it my footwork?

also, i am having a hard time backing up. i don't really know what is the right way for running backwards.

hi, i am still a beginner to badminton. i know i still have many things i need to improve, but like you guys said, i should take one thing at a time. it took me about a year to have "okay" clears. but when it comes to playing singles, i serve, my opponent clears, then no matter what i do next, he/she will end the rally at the next shot. our exchanges do not last long.

i try to always come back to the middle and be ready to receive the shuttle but i just don't seem to ever be fast enough. so i was wondering if it is my techniques and strenght problem (like if i had better clears, my opponent wouldn't be able to kill mee that fast) or is it my footwork?

also, i am having a hard time backing up. i don't really know what is the right way for running backwards.

thanks in advance.

this problem has various solutions:
-be faster on teh clear: better footwork
-recorver faster from hitting (get back faster)
-make sure your clear are deap enough: push teh opponent completly back. or make a drop..remember: a devesive drop shoudl be tight (and fast) not just short.
-when returnign from teh back court, don't go all teh way to your center.

this problem has various solutions:
-be faster on teh clear: better footwork
-recorver faster from hitting (get back faster)
-make sure your clear are deap enough: push teh opponent completly back. or make a drop..remember: a devesive drop shoudl be tight (and fast) not just short.
-when returnign from teh back court, don't go all teh way to your center.

thanks for the advices! just that i don't really get the last point there. doesn't it mean that i should not react too fast, that i have to stay close to the back until i see where the shuttle is going to drop before moving?

used to be fat too

Originally Posted by ZoggeY

Hi! I love badminton and i want to keep playing it but i have a problem!I am so fat!I weigh about 80 kg and my heigh is 170 cm and i am 12 years old!Please help me!

Few months ago i was overweight too. i weighted 75kg but because of badminton i now weight 57.5 kgs. and that was just 3-4 months ago. i just played and strated eating in moderation so i dont feel deprived when i was reinforced with my weight lost i totally got rid of unhealthy foods and drinks. i stopped binging. now i am already a vegetarian and its not as bad as it sounds. i do not eat fried foods as well. hope i was able to help...

clarification pls

regarding the 2nd drill, does one person do all 6 shuttlecocks first or one shuttle cock at a time. sounds like fun, want to try them cause my coach tells me i'm a bit slow and that i dont try hard enough to catch the return.
thanks in advance...

Originally Posted by FEND.

It's 11.50pm... less than 9 hours from my accounting exam but heck. I'm sure I can squeeze in a post

ALRIGHT!!

For most of you beginners and intermediate players you may not realise it but have you ever tried drills for small kids? I was watching my sister who's 9 years old get coaching from Paul Kong, and it was inspiring!! The techniques though a bit childish actually build up the basics real good.

Two exercises which I can still remember from last week's training session with my sis and her training partner involved catching a lobbed shuttle with another shuttle in one's hand. One would hold the shuttle in the hand just like an ice cream cone and would try to catch the falling shuttle. This really helps you practice your hand eye coordination. My training partner and I who stayed back for a bit of a chit chat thought it was fun and tried it also! And I can tell you, it's not as easy as it seems. Sure you can easily catch one or 2 but can you do it consistently?

Another one which they did which I thought was quite good was something like a firing line. Each person would stand on the other side of the court with 6 shuttles lined up equally spaced on the service line. The aim of this was to grab the shuttle with one hand one by one and throw it in the opponent's court. This I thought builds up your recovery speed and tactics. Why tactics? Cause one can throw it anywhere on the opposite court!! So if you can make the other person run to retrieve the shuttles you practice some form of strategising . Oh yea not forgetting if you can catch a shuttle in mid air you are allowed to do so and throw it back even before it lands in your area .

Try those 2 exercises. Childish as they may seem, they are quite fun and I highly reccomend them .

Good Advices.. Give more!

i think this has been echoed many times before, but i think it deserve another mention.

for those who are starting badminton, i suggest a few things you should focus on and a few things that you should not focus on at this stage.

FOCUS ON:

- focus on the correct grip - read the grip guide in BC
- focus on the correct stroke - ask a coach to show you.
- focus on footwork
- focus on fitness - jog/swim/bike - or do footwork drills

DO NOT FOCUS ON:

- trick shots - stop learning those strange shots.
- fancy style - i have so many times seen beginners with really fancy looking hitting style but then they miss the shuttle. keep it simple.
- strength training - leave this after you have learned your basic strokes
- expensive racket - you will most likely be wasting money

Good tips given...

Anyway, how much does swimming helps one on fitness? It seems to me like it doesn't help much really though. anyway comparing swimming with footwork drills, which one helps more? because my fitness isn't really dat great. so maybe i lose out e game in fitness.

In terms of weight and fitness... Don't be fooled into thinking that because you are heavy, you are slow or unfit....

I am personally fairly unfit at the momet because I have been out of sports with several injuries.. My fitness returns very quickly though once training, so that should be resolved shortly.

Before injury, I was 85kg in weight and I'm about 176cm (is that 5'11"?). I am also 29 years old now.
Since injury I am now about 90kg and some of my toned muscle has 'relaxed', meaning I am somewhat slower than I was but not drastically, the biggest difference is my stamina that has reduced.

At 85kg, I can run 100m happily in around 11.5secs and 200m in around 24secs... I aren't slow for sure. I am also pretty agile and this has come from many years trained as a dancer and participating in a variety of sports.

Even now, when I am heavier and unfit, I am still fast around the court when I need to be (although I struggle with keeping the intensity due to fitness).

I presently play the game with two friends... One of them plays for a regional football team and the other is training for a marathon, so happily runs 10 miles per day. They are both reasonable at badminton, yet I beat them most games... They both commented it is because I know I am struggling with fitness and so use strategy to win points when I can't win by speed or power.

What I hope this points out is that you can be over 75kg and still be fast, agile and fit... You fitness will improve with playing and so should your skills.

Keep practicing and tyr to enjoy the game as much as possible.... Set yourself goals (short, medium and long-term) and strive to achieve them.

Play 'competitive' matches, ie keep score. Mindlessly hitting around promotes laziness or lack of commitment to play well. A 'competitive' game will help gear the mind to do better as well as letting one learn to use the skills. A skill is only useful when it is used correctly in the correct situation, in the correct time. One might do great smashes during these hit-arounds but end up doing none or completely muffing it up during real games. When it matters ie keeping score, one will (almost) automatically try to play seriously and/or better.

omg... for real when i play singles i clearly don't smash as good as just rallying around... i guess i should play more games